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Monthly Archives: December 2016

We’re going to be analyzing the main figures of the spiritual literature. Fray Luis dof León was borne in Belmonte (Cuenca) in 1527, he had Jewish ancestors and his family was originally from the Mountains. He worked as a teacher in Salamanca and was processed by the Inquisition in that exact faculty, gaining a long jail sentence from 1572 to 1576. His four biggest creations are: The Exposition of Song of Songs (written in 1561 and 1562 to Isabel Osorio, a nun from the Sancti Spiritus in Salamanca) where we can see all of his usual topics in his comments; The Perfect Wife written in 1583 for María Varela de Osorio’s wedding, a comment to Chapter XXXI of the Proverbs, which gained popularity although it didn’t get as much of the critic’s attention as it deserved; Commentary on the Book of Job, took him a lot of time to write (maybe from 1570 till 1591), and it reflects a clear ideological and stylistic internal revolution; but his biggest play in Spanish prose was The Name of Christ, a summary of his biblical, theological and philosophical thoughts, which contains the motives seen through all his work, this book represents the author’s idea of perfection because it manages to reduce multiple aspects into one unit.

Fray Louis of Granada

Originally from Dominican Republic, Fray Louis of Granada (1504-1588) was born in Granada and wrote The Sinner’s Guide (Lisboa, 1556-1557) and An Introduction to the Symbol of Faith (Salamanca, 1583). The Guide was included in the 1559 index, and that required some changes here and there.

Taking exams. Very often the best way to prove that something has been learnt is through exams. They usually not represent a problem if study was performed correctly although it is advisable to take some precautions:

Read the questions carefully in order to correctly understand them.

Mentally try to position the required concepts in the synoptic chart previously built.

Try to answer using well-built and understandable phrases.

It is necessary to explain any technical words being used and, if possible, provide examples. It is a good method to imagine that you are explaining the concept to an alien who does not know anything. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the teacher already knows it all.

Make use of all the available time and use any spare time to review.

Take the exam with enthusiasm: use good handwriting, cleanliness, do not make corrections, use the appropriate margins, use a ruler to underline the important phrases or concepts.

Even though it might be obvious I want to point out that study is not something to be left for one or two days before the exam but it is an activity that has to be performed as the class is progressing.

It is possible that some of the activities proposed in the orientation guide are challenging at first. Nonetheless, it is worth it to keep on practicing and, if necessary, use any other articles or books about charts or summaries.